Student newspaper of Illinois Institute of Technology since 1 928 Islam and socialjustice Discover Islam Week 2011: Discover, Experience, Learn By Tanim Taher TECHN EWS WRITER “S L / USTICE DISCOVERJEXPERIENCELEARN APRIL 4TH » 87H ZDI l 1250 1.40 PM MTC C Each of us lives in a society where we work, interact and live together: There is a certain set of rules and paradigms that make this society function but which, on the other hand, bind us together in harmony We may come from very diverse backgrounds, we may have very differ, ent kinds of jobs and aspirations, but our socie ety is well able to accommodate all such differ, ences, and indeed, benefit from them, due to the prevalence of several cornerstone societal values: Respect and dignity for others and the idea of freedom are obvious social fundamene tals that immediately come to mind: However, there is another very important social value that encompasses these and ensures that the rights of others , groups or individuals, are protected and not violated; and this is the idea of social justice: Social justice is that glue that binds people in a society together in harmony , it is what ensures that people are able to lead an honorable, safe, dignified life: The Muslim Students’ Association at 117 linois Institute of Technology (MSA@IIT) is organizing a series of lectures from April 4 , April 8 to shed some light on the very impore ta.nt idea of social justice: The goal is to show that the great religions of the world, including Islam, firmly support issues related to Social Justice, and also to give examples of how ref ligiously inspired struggles for justice and equality transformed history and civilization for the better: Below is the list of talks that are being organized by MSA@IIT Yesterday, April 4, from 12:50 pm: , 1:40 pm: at Herman Hall Ballroom, there was an interfaith panel of students who read pas, sages related to social justice from scriptures of different religions , Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism and Islam: The idea was to show that although we come from different religious backgrounds, our religions are all related and united in one very important area among oth ers , that is human rights, human dignity, and social justice: Today, on April 5, at the same time (12:50 pm: , 1:40 pm) in the MTCC Ballroom, Professor at the Humanities Depart, ment at IIT, Catherine Bronson, will deliver a lecture entitled “Science, Civilization and Is, lam?’ A society based on the strong foundae tions of equality and social justice can achieve great milestones and transform human history Professor Bronson will discuss how the Muse lim Civilization between 60071600 AD that was based on these very same principles trans, formed the realms of science and culture, and allowed for the flourishing of a very open, wele coming, diverse and just society where people from different races and religions could work together freely Then on Wednesday, April 6, we give you the opportunity to learn about the man who inspired and continues to inspire struggles for technewsiit.com Opi ion 2-3 Campus 4-6 AErE 1-8 The Slipstick 9 Sports 10-11 DISCOVER ISLAM WEEK APRIL 4TI IVB'III 2011 SCHEDULE APRIL 5TH |I'| Hm APRIL 4TH MINI \ucm IIMI IIIIIlmlxnlin'l ‘31me \I | LL PM | In H Hi I.’ \I‘l IIII'M Phd mndidare d! Umver my 01 [Imago A II\\ l,\,|\.‘III/\I|1N APRIL 7 ‘H IIIIIIWIMK‘I APRIL (3 H \\‘I I\I\‘I mm |\| NM II'I! M IIIRKIKHH C-AII Nu m III\II«,I 'I‘llUIiIllM IIUI ‘ MIIJ, \I IxHUILILm I,.‘ \II I «WM \\\.\ I ‘I’l I\ III N NI MM: Hm w 1mm: I \m 1m» [‘\_\ HUI LUNCH LVLI'QDAY email: msnlg‘lludv justice and equality around the world: This man is Prophet Mohammad, the prophet of Islam , who by the grace of God transformed the most backward, oppressive and socially unfair city in just 22 years into a sophisticated, cultured and an uplifting society where juse tice and equality reigned everywhere: Prophet Mohammad is an inspiration to a billion plus Muslims, and his struggles for justice and equality resonate strongly even today , includ ing some of the recent events in North Afe rica and Middle East: The title of the lecture is “Mohammad and Social Justice", and it will be given by Tahera Ahmed, who is a chaplain from Northwestern University The lecture time is again 12:50 , 1:40 pm: at the MTCC Auditorium: If you like the first three lectures, and want to learn more about the faith that heave ily emphasizes concepts of social justice, then you will also like the “Islam 101" lecture on Thursday, April 7, 12:40 pm: 71:50 pm: in the web: msa.ii'.edu MTCC Auditorium: Islam encourages social justice right from the beginning, starting from home by taking care of your parents, and ex, tends to even to those who are not related, such as neighbors, orphans and the needy Islamic social justice is about a struggle against in, equality This lecture will touch some bases on core Islamic beliefs, and it will be delivered by Abdur Rahman Khan who is the Imam of the largest mosque in the Chicagoland area: The fi nal event for the week is on Friday, April 8, and it is called “Mosque Open House?’ If you are interested to see how Muslims pray and what a mosque looks like, then you are invited to join us for the Friday prayer at the IIT mosque on third floor of Farr Hall, from 1:00 pm: , 1:40 pm: There is free food at all these lectures and events listed above! We hope you will find the lectures interesting, relevant to today’s time, and illuminating: So please come and tell your friends about it as well: IPRO 335: Lego Art By Tanya Prabhakar TECHNEWS WRITER l (.4. Lee, the leader ofIPRO 335 (Photo courtesy Tanya Prabnaker) “I .h’ IPRO 361 Lego Art is aimed at creating an aftereschool Lego Art program for socioe economically segregated youth students: This week I interviewed Lee Fink, the team leader of IPRO 361: Where did you get the idea for IPRO 361? The idea of “LEGO Art" originated from my own personal interest in the arts and ex, pressing creativity For the past few years I had always been hearing about the government budget cuts within arts programs: I wanted to start something that gave opportunities to young students who may not have had the chance to be creative: After some research into different arts programs, I decided to simplify the IPRO into something exciting: I eventually ran into many sites that were about modern, day LEGO artists and sculptures: As a child, I knew how easy it was to use the modulated LEGO bricks and the endless variety the bricks produced: Thus, the initial idea of “LEGO Art" was created: What is the mission ofyour IPRO? This program was initiated to address the decrease of government funding in youth art programs within Chicago: The IPRO seeks to create an environment of creativity and posi tive experiences through the use of LEGO bricks: What are the short-term and long-term goals of the group? Our short term goals for IPRO 361 is to launch a pilot program of LEGO Art, find poi tential sponsors for LEGO Art and develop methods to give recognition to these youth stu dents: Looking further down the road, the long term goals are to actually implement an after school program based off the pilot program: Additionally, the IPRO seeks to gain grants and sustainable partners for the future semesters: What has the team accomplished so far? I’m very happy with the team I have had the chance to work with this semester as we have progressed at a very steady and rapid pace: The most notable accomplishment thus far is the start of the pilot program of LEGO Art: Our IPRO has teamed up with the Boys and Girls Club here in Chicago to put together a two week long LEGO Art program (March 28 , April 8): Our educational development sub, team created a curriculum for each day of the program with help from IIT’s Math and Sci, ence Education Department: Additionally, our IPRO has developed many methods of recogni tion for these young artists from simple award prototypes, to a final exhibition of their work, and even an online virtual gallery Our fund, ing and sustainability subegroup have already gathered many grants and potential sponsors for LEGO Art and are awaiting the takeeoff of our pilot program: What are you most looking forward to in the project? I think I speak for the whole IPRO 361 team when I say that we are most excited about the pilot program which begins on March 28: The team has spent a lot of time defining what LEGO Art is and what the program should look like: The pilot program will be the realizae tion of our vision: LEGO Art started up as a small simple idea to me and grew into some, thing much larger The success of our IPRO is due to the hard work put in by our team and I invite any IIT student that wants to share our passion to look into IPRO 361 for future see mesters: